RIM Changes Price Tiers for BlackBerry World

Not only did Research In Motion change the name of its official software portal for BlackBerry devices, but it also announced changes to the pricing of applications available through it.

While gearing up for the launch of BlackBerry 10, the company announced that the pricing of applications in the BlackBerry World had been lowered, at least in some markets around the globe.

“This first wave will update the British Pound (GPB) and Euro (EUR) currencies. Shortly after we will be rolling out updates to other currencies and will be informing you in advance of those changes,” RIM announced in a blog post.

The company notes that the changes are meant to reflect the currency exchange rates and VAT requirements, while being set to make content more appealing to users.

“These updates will help to position your content items to be more competitive and attractive to customers in the UK and Eurozone markets. The goal of this adjustment is to ensure prices are in line with currency fluctuations and ensure content within BlackBerry World is competitive,” RIM notes.

The price changes will be made automatically, and will not impact the availability of specific apps and content for users.

For example, the price tier change will have the lowest content cost in the UK dropped from £1.00 to £0.75, the company explains.

“For Euros the tier will vary by country. For example, in France the current lowest tier is €0.99. With the pricing tier changes, the new lowest tier will be €0.89,” the company also notes.

Application developers with software available in the BlackBerry World are also offered the possibility to adjust the price tier for their content items in any given country, a move that can be easily made through the BlackBerry World vendor portal at any time.

However, RIM also notes that any change made to the pricing of apps will appear in the software storefront with a delay of up to 24 hours.